IEA official calls for new norms for use of energy resources

A senior official of the International Energy Agency (IEA) has urged governments in the region to make policies to ensure that there is effective and efficient use of their energy resources.Speaking at the Qatar Energy and Water Efficiency conference yesterday, Robert Tromop, the head of Energy Efficiency at the IEA, said the recommendations on the energy efficiency that the Paris-based 28-member agency has made are applicable to not only the member-countries but also to the rest of the world, including many high requirement countries and energy rich ones.“There needs to be more effective use of energy resources among the countries of the Middle East,” said Tromop, while deliberating on the importance of putting in place mandatory energy efficiency building codes, usage of high efficiency building components, minimum energy performance standards for appliances, and also monthly verification and enforcement of standards.While calling for installation of high efficiency street lights, the official appealed to counties to phase out inefficient and ineffective lamps in use.The introduction of better public transport systems across the region, he said, would not only help in fulfilling mandatory fuel economy standards for vehicles, but would also encourage the residents to make effective use of such energy efficient vehicles. He advised industries to adhere to the IEA’s energy management protocol so that there is a minimum energy performing standards for all equipment in use. The IEA official said though there were inspections by the agency twice in 2009 and 2011, it was found that only very few countries had fully implemented its recommendations. “There are still many others who have ambitious plans in this direction while there are some countries who have no plans to implement any energy-friendly measures,” he pointed out.The speaker also called upon the region’s countries to consider involving more private entrepreneurs as they have very negligible presence in the energy-efficiency programmes.The IEA official said the region’s countries have very low institutional capacity and this is one of the major obstacles in implementing effective energy efficiency programmes.